Asia Cup 2023, India vs Sri Lanka playing XI tip off: Kohli-Bumrah to be rested, Shreyas and Shami walk in

Kohli to be rested 

It took another marathon run of a hundred from Virat Kohli, and his partnership with another centurion in KL Rahul, to propel India to 356/2 in their 50 overs against Pakistan. A typical Kohli triple digit ODI score that saw him run 68 off his 122 runs. The former India captain would even request for his player of the match interview to be short at the end of the fixture and relay the obvious concern at the end of it, “I was pushing for those runs and happy for it, but I was thinking I need to play at 3 pm tomorrow.”

💯 NUMBER 4️⃣7️⃣

King @imVkohli, take a bow! 🙌😍
Legendary knock by the modern day great. #Pakistan truly gets the best out of the King!

Tune-in to #AsiaCupOnStar, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network#INDvPAK #Cricket pic.twitter.com/7BfKckU1AO

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 11, 2023

While Kohli went on to add that most of the bunch in the team were also Test cricket players for India, the men in blue might want to take it easy with their key batter in the format, who just breached the 13,000 run mark last night, and is two hundreds away from equaling Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record in the format.

The number three batter for India in the format is likely to be rested against Sri Lanka, and it is possible that the team management give Shreyas Iyer another chance to prove his mettle in the middle order. Iyer had missed out the India-Pakistan match owing to a back spasm, and if fit, is likely to walk in the XI for Kohli. With KL Rahul having scored a century on his comeback from injury and Ishan Kishan bailing India out of a collapse in the group stage innings against Pakistan, it might be one of the last chance for the two-time world champions to provide game time to the other batters from their 15-member squad for the World Cup.

The team management also have the option to rest KL Rahul for the Sri Lanka game and bring Suryakumar Yadav but are likely to persist with their first choice wicketkeeper who’s in search of game time ahead of the big tournament.

Shami in for Bumrah

Also likely to be given a breather is Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled five overs for the first time since his comeback to international cricket last month. The 29-year-old poked the first hole in Pakistan’s top order with a spectacular seaming away delivery to remove Imam-ul-Haq in the powerplay and finished his five overs by only giving away 18 runs.

BOOM BOOM BUMRAH! 💥

Ball in hand for the first time this tournament, @Jaspritbumrah93 takes no time to make an impact! 😍#TeamIndia get their opening wicket.

Tune-in to #AsiaCupOnStar, LIVE NOW on Star Sports Network#INDvPAK #Cricket pic.twitter.com/GWnLcI8oWv

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 11, 2023

The right arm quick was taken off the field towards the end of the game as India inched towards a big win against Pakistan. As hinted by head coach Rahul Dravid ahead of the Asia Cup, the team management shall be looking to ease Bumrah into the setup and back-to-back outings in the format don’t seem the ideal way to.

Also awaiting game time is Mohammed Shami, who had been India’s first choice seamer in the format in Bumrah’s absence and is likely to be a key component of their World Cup lineup.

India predicted playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav